Transmat World: Chapter 6, Episode 4
Transmat headquarters; Wednesday, October 6, 2145 A.D.
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An artificial floor curving between stalagmites and office equipment gave stalactites the right of way. Triangular trusses ran across the ceiling between stalactites, supporting S0.25 Class II Transmats expelling fresh air and impelling the stale stuff. Full-spectrum LED swarm lighting roosted in the trusses. The hundreds of individual LED pods constantly monitored office activity levels and crawled around on the ceiling, repositioning to give better lighting. Vince was standing outside one of the three S2.0 Class I booths for human transport. Against one curving wall of the cavern stood an S5.0 Class I Transmat for transporting large equipment and groups of people.
Free-form tables flowed through the cavern, forming natural harbors and islands of workspace anchored by keyboards, computer screens, and 3D holographic projector displays. No walls separated staff and management. Sound cancellation devices between work islands kept the ambient cave noise at an amorphous murmur. No one was assigned a desk. Task teams formed and split using whatever workstations were available. There were no printers. Sheets of reusable smart paper served as couriers of transitory information and bright ideas, and servers stored the permanent stuff. Lord Greystoke awakened from a nap on top of a blade server that was the actual thickness of a blade and leaned against Vince’s leg, trying to transfer as much fur as possible in the shortest amount of time to the trousers.
Frederick Beasener at six o’clock, texted Ookie to Vince’s head-up display.
Vince turned as if inspecting the array of holograms populating the office atmosphere or an entertaining light swarm.
“Frederick, how good to see you,” said Vince, forcing a smile. Frederick is okay, but Vince had things to do and was still assimilating his recent trashback experience.
“Vince Miller. It is good to see you as well. I am sure you remember my assistant, Edward Grumbacher.” Frederick gave a perfunctory uptick of the corners of his thin lips. He had better control of his facial features than when Vince first met Frederick years ago in California.
Better drugs, thought Vince.
Lord Greystoke still did not like him and went in search of a lost toy between the cavern’s false and real floors.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” said Edward. Frederick’s assistant was his normal stoic self.
Because of Hank’s grant from the Board of Agreement to develop Transmat, the Board now owned 10 percent of Transmat, Inc. Vince felt lucky they did not insist on membership of Transmat’s board of directors. It was natural that Frederick wanted to keep up with developments, projects, and the general direction Transmat was headed. Edward had taken care of Lord Greystoke and flown the cat to Mexico soon after the attack on the house in California. Vince would always be grateful for that. Frederick and Edward frequented offices of large and small technological and research companies to sniff out anything remotely useful to mankind’s quest for fast and cheap space travel. As usual, both were upscale but muted in dress, formal in their approach, and straightforward in their agenda. Sartorial snapshots of the late 1800s, neither wore a hedset nor acknowledged hedbots. Frederick’s left hand clutched his bowler hat by the rim.
“Vince, I am here to ask you about Transmat’s surge in research and development funds. Is there anything new I should know about?”
“Absolutely not, Frederick. We’re still focusing on making Transmats smaller and bigger and more reliable, developing new markets. You know, there are going to be ups and downs in the testing cycles of new products. They have to be tested to destruction time after time after…” Vince blathered on and on, revealing not one iota of information about the X-drive.
“The Fall socialmart at the Ozone Lounge just started,” interjected Ookie.
“Sorry, Frederick, Edward, I don’t mean to rush you guys off, but I gotta go. Let’s catch up some other time. I’ll drop by your office at the Board of Agreement, and we’ll have a nice talk.” Vince then turned to the office in general and put on the stage voice of a corporate CEO. “School’s out, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s go.”
“Vince, I should mention I have a new boss who is very interested in Transmat and claims to be an old friend of yours,” said Frederick.
“And who is that?” asked Vince, now hyper alert to the conversation.
“Albert Anthony Millsap,” said Frederick.
“Bert Millsap!?”
People looked in their direction without slowing the mass migration to Transmat booths where lines were already forming. The swarm lighting took notice and provided a pool of light for Vince to stammer and fume in until he got his composure.
“Good ol’ Bert. Tell him ‘hi’ and that I’m looking forward to catching up on old times.” Vince turned to join the crowd heading for the socialmart.
“I should inform you he is pressing for a full audit of Transmat, Inc.”
Vince stopped and turned to Frederick. “I really don’t think that is necessary, Frederick. Transmat is doing nothing the Board or Bert Millsap would not approve of. This is not a good time. Let’s get together and discuss this soon.”
“Okay, my office will be in contact with yours about this matter and set up a date for discussion,” said Frederick.
“Thank you, Frederick. Edward, I’ll always remember what you did for me, taking care of my cat. Thanks again for that,” said Vince.
Edward was at a loss of words before saying, “You are welcome, Vince. It was nothing.”
“Maria is waiting for you at the socialmart,” said Ookie.
Vince’s heart rate ticked up another notch, and he smiled; Frederick Beasener’s intrusive inquisitions, queasy memories of Bert, and thoughts of an audit fast fading from his mind.
Everyone was using the S5.0 booth to head for the socialmart in groups of five. Frederick Beasener and Edward Grumbacher were at the back of the line and enter the booth by themselves. Transmat security was the only office staff.
Frederick put on his bowler hat as they enter the booth. When the door shuts, he pressed the button on a device in his pocket and electromagnetic pulses turned security camera images into blobs of static. Edward took a device from his pocket and held it in an upturned palm. It floated to the security camera and settled onto the lens.
Vince’s engineers had not noticed that the inset lens of the security camera was a design flaw. The keypad and displays were flush with the smooth inside wall of the booth. The only indentation was the cylindrical inset of the security lens. Everything else in the booth got transmitted except for that little pocket of air. That pocket of air was now occupied by a nanocrystalline disk. It looked no different than the camera lens and would record everything inside the booth just as the security camera did — but for someone else. The static in the recording wentaway. Frederick punched in numbers on the keypad, ostensibly to the lobby of the Board of Agreement building where they maintain offices. That was not where they were going.
Link to Transmat World: Chapter 7, Episode 1, to be published on or about Monday, February 7, 2022.
